SolveYourProblem Article Series: Pregnancy
Pregnancy: Everything You Need To Know

How To Reduce Morning Sickness
   

Nausea is the most common side effect of a healthy pregnancy. It is also one of the most annoying to boot. More than half of all pregnant women have had morning sickness, and will have it again. Just because you have it once doesn’t mean you will have it again. Others may have it everyday for several weeks. Also, if you don’t have morning sickness, this doesn’t mean your pregnancy is abnormal. Some women just do not suffer from this common ailment. One of the theory of why women experience this hideous side effect are hormones. The hormone HCG secreted by the egg causes a rise in progesterone, the main culprit of nausea. The more HCG, the more progesterone, and the sicker you are. Adding a little estrogen to the mix makes for a nauseating hormone cocktail. Don’t be surprised if your morning sickness is not restricted to just morning, it won’t be. Most women have bouts at all times of day and find specific times better or worse depending on the individual.

To help alleviate morning sickness, try to avoid any smells that you may find discomforting. This might range from fish, to cat litter box odor, or any animal or human waste products or even certain foods like bacon or coffee. These will surely trigger the gag reflex. Also know when to leave the room. If you smell something that is definitely going to turn your stomach, leave the room and have someone else dispose of the item or take a shower to remove the smell. You will be surprised at all the things that you once loved will now make your stomach turn upside down. You are now going to be the queen of the smells. You will smell everything and could probably rent yourself out as a bloodhound. Also take that stinky prenatal horse pill at night with food; it is bound to make you sick for sure if you don’t.

You are at a higher bracket for nausea in the first trimester if you are having more than one baby. It adds double the hormone cocktail to your system. If you had severe nausea with other pregnancies, you might have a better chance of having the same occur for this one, but there is a chance that you will be spared this time as well. Women who had nausea associated with birth control are also more likely to develop morning sickness, because the hormones are the same and now in higher doses. If you are genetically predisposed, meaning your mom or other close relatives had it, and if you have migraines you have a higher risk as well.

If you want to try to bypass this lovely pregnancy malady, try some of these tips that doctors, midwives, and moms all over swear by.

• Try to stick to foods that are will not smell bad to you. It may seem like you are only eating two things all the time, but that is okay for now. It is better to keep something in your tummy all the time and constantly nibble on happy foods than constantly get sick or have an empty belly.
• Always keep crackers or other bland treats next to you and your bed. This will enable you to combat nausea when it strikes. Plus, it keeps the acid in your stomach from aggravating you and causing nausea. Citrus fruits are also good for combating morning sickness.
• Smaller bland meals of carbohydrates more often seem to ward off the sickness as well. Try rice, potatoes, and other bland foods that can be made in as small or large a portion as you like.
• Avoid rich, spicy, acidic, fatty and fried foods when you have morning sickness. As good as they may taste at first, they will do nothing but cause you pain and suffering. In addition, they don’t taste as good coming back up.
• Also, drink tons of water or other liquids that promote hydration between meals. If water makes you sick, which it can for lots of ladies, try sports drinks or adding fresh fruit and their juices to your water for flavor.
• In addition, take the prenatal vitamin at night with a starchy meal. Those things are a quick way to ensure you are running to the bathroom. Ask to have another type of pill prescribed if the ones you are taking have too much iron.
• Another good tip, is talk with your doctor about vitamin B6 and doxylamine (a drug found in the regular strength Unisom). This combination can also help fight upset stomach during pregnancy.
• Try the acupuncture bands for the wrist, they trigger a place on the wrist that fixes nausea.

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by SolveYourProblem.com : 2006

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